Veal Rolls Stuffed with Spinach & Gruyere- Sort of

A Faux Gourmet twist on a Gourmet recipe.

Taste & See: You can find the original recipe from Gourmet Magazine so I won't bother to reprint it. But lest you think the fancy title implies more effort or skill than you can muster up, the technique is actually really simple and can be modified to use up whatever you have on hand.

What you need:

- Meat cutlets, sliced thin
- Grated cheese
- Spinach leaves
- (Dry) white wine
- Butter
- Salt, pepper, herbs of choice
- Skewer stick, baking pan, saute pan

The Basic Technique:

- Lay thin cuts of meat flat in a baking pan.
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Rub with melted butter.
- Pile shredded cheese on top.
- Stack spinach leaves over the cheese.
- Roll up and pin with skewer stick.
- Saute for two minutes on each side in butter.
- Return to baking pan and bake approx. 5 min. more at 425 F.
- Meanwhile, add approx 1/2 cup wine + 1 tbsp butter to sauce pan, scraping up brown bits.
- Sprinkle in herb of choice and reduce to approx. 1/2 amount of liquid.

Voila!

Tips:

- Using a skewer stick keeps the meat rolls together while cooking and makes for easy transfer without needing separate utensils.


- Pre-washed spinach leaves save time.
- Anytime you cook meat on the stove top, make a flavorful sauce by scraping up the crusty bits left from the meat in the saute pan with wine and a little extra butter.



Variations:

The original recipe calls for veal, gruyere, spinach leaves, parsley, a dry white wine and anchovy paste. I didn't have anchovy paste. Instead, I spread some leftover almond - garlic - lemon - bread crumb sauce mixed with the melted butter over the meat before adding cheese and spinach. I didn't have a dry white wine so I used a slightly sweet Viognier, which worked just fine.



My second variation was a faux gourmet spin on a cheeseburger. I used choice beef tip sirloin steak, long flat pieces perfect for rolling up.




I mixed some mustard and garlic with the butter for spreading over the meat, and used a vodka cheddar instead of gruyere. The only white wine I had on hand was a Gewurtzraminer, a spunky, spicy wine, and thyme for the brown sauce. I was afraid it would be too sweet, but it turned out quite nice, a bit more complex than a typical white wine brown sauce.